to think some people think WFH should be a constant nose to the grindstone?

So deal with their managers. They were clearly failing when their staff were in the office full time, hiding behind a culture of presenteeism.

Or realise that it’s not the end of the world if someone does an exercise class and makes up the time later. Not everything has to slot into a 9-5 pattern and might actually be better with flexibility.

You've misunderstood. The previous poster was talking about whether or not the employer has realised, not the employee.

And again, this kind of 'gotcha' - oh, your work is going to be offshored hahahaha, back to the office with you, slacker! - is another example of lack of imagination. Not everyone who WFH is doing calls or sales. My job doesn't really exist outside of the UK and certainly couldn't be done via a call centre in Bangalore or wherever. And if a job can genuinely be done better by AI, than the office / WFH argument is irrelevant anyway.

But you know, carry on gloating at the chance that some people could possibly lose jobs because they work in a way that you don't understand; that's a great look for you.

Sorry, not sure what you mean here?

If people at work have time to hang out washing or go to exercise classes, they are not being managed properly and are not as productive as they should be. I think WFH should be cracked down on as too many are clearly swinging the lead.

It's not a question of whether the employee realises this though is it?

What a load of tosh.
Some employers - mine included - have closed their brick and mortar workplaces to save money. Why pay office leases and provide furniture and heating when they can make their employees work from home and provide only laptops and cellphones?

I think the main worry about WFH is that a lot of jobs that provably can be done remotely are now being moved to wherever in the world labour is cheapest.

I do one WFH day a week, and have one non-working day (a Wednesday). I’m a lecturer and on my WFH day I teach two remote classes, and get my lesson prep/marking done for the rest of the week. Do I stick a wash on first thing/sort it/hang it? Yes of course. Generally after my second remote class I’m kind of done, because I work far more efficiently at home and batter through all my work in the morning with no distractions. I am often pottering around the house, but available to attend to my laptop if it beeps with emails or messages.

Today on my non-working (unpaid, I am on a .8 contract) day I have replied to numerous emails/Teams messages, and also arranged a referral for a student who needs support for personal issues. I figure it all balances out, and am grateful to have a manager who feels the same.

Pp mentioned the Teams status going to “away”. I changed mine to offline about two years ago when a student said I would get into trouble if management saw. I was standing right next to her, in a teaching space, on campus, with my laptop at the other side of the room. Not all work is done at a desk!

There can't be many employers who are in a line of work where offshoring would be feasible, but have somehow not realised this in at least half a decade of remote working. Realistically that's got to be quite a niche group.

So your employer is paying you for only one hour's work?

I WFH due to a disability. The office is a very long commute, which was fine when I was in perfect health: now it’s not doable. To support me, my employer also allow me to work flexible hours part time: they also encourage me to take time for my sons school things like sports days: parent visits. I don’t take the piss. During January I worked lots of extra hours to get a time sensitive project complete. However, it’s calmed down a bit now, so yeah, some days I have taken it a wee bit easier..

Yep, the local authority i work for sold all but the main building off. We literally don't have an office space as legally my team can't share space with any aspect of children's services. If we want to borrow an office space for a team meeting we get charged £60 per hour, to use local authority owned office space that doesn't belong to my team!

Maybe your employer will find renting an office in Bangalore is cheaper yet, or replacing half of the staff with AI? 😂

I definitely do think people should be able to wfh and I do agree flexibility is important. I used to put out the washing, too, when I did. And I stacked the dishwasher at lunchtime. Why not?

But honestly, I do also think there are also a ton of skivers who wfh. Not everyone plays fair. There was a thread recently where plenty of people admitted it. It ruins it for others.

I think there should be clear standards or targets/expectations/milestones, and people should expect to meet them.

No doubt. Office space is expensive. There's a reason loads of public sector staff had hybrid enforced on them during austerity. The bottom line is the bottom line!

Same here, there will be no way there won’t be a degree of hybrid working 🤷🏻

crashingly disappointing for some posters I know

Exactly. We go in once a week/ once a fortnight depending on holidays etc. There are over 800 people based in my office and 156 desks. We wouldn’t physically fit, the company has saved loads by downsizing.

This.

Sometimes you also just need to take yourself off for a 10 min walk round the block to be more productive!

No, I think the people I knew that were losing a fifth of their salary were probably making a bit of a saving because they weren't paying for petrol, train tickets and other expenses involved in commuting to work. They were stuck at home, only allowed at once a day, so their expenditure naturally reduced. Whether that was you or not is neither here nor there. I know people that were in that position and it's those same people that are kicking up a stink about people wfh.

If you're in an office, there's going to be a bit of time chatting to colleagues, making coffee etc. I view putting the laundry on etc as a similar use of time. And I get faaaarrrrr more work done when I wfh because there are fewer distractions and my output is significantly higher than when I'm in the office - mainly because people stop by for a chat etc which I don't get at home.

It's swings and roundabouts and if your core hours are covered, you have the trust of your company and you deliver what you're supposed to, then it's all good I reckon!

My WFH days aren’t like that. I’m expected to be at my desk working, except for short breaks to use the loo/get a drink and take my lunch break. I’d probably get sacked if it became known I put the washing out or did my own admin on paid work time. They can tell if you’re not there generally as we’re on chat a lot.

I'm contracted to do 30 hours a week and work exclusively from home. My day generally looks

6.15am-6.45am morning work admin
Get kids up and ready for school

9am-2.30pm I work but I stop for 10 minutes to sort my laundry, 20 minutes to eat and 10 minutes to faff the dishwasher.

4pm after getting home from the pick up I will log back on and do another hour. If things are crazy that often becomes two or even three hours (and build up TOIL).

My job is really intense, I have to break the big block up to make it manageable so 2 x 10 minutes and 1 x 20 minutes which is made up (and more) later works well for me. If I have to take a personal phone call or run a personal errand then, again, that gets made up.

Yes I have flexibility, yes my job gets 100%, yes it suits my life and I earn less in the public sector than my private sector equivalent. If it works all round then why does it matter.

Don't you ever take breaks when you're at work? Make cups of tea? Go to the toilet? Have a chat with colleagues? Do a bit of filing or go for a walk around the building to stretch your legs? Etc etc.? What's the difference between that and spending literally 3-4 minutes loading a washing machine?

You realise that you're actually supposed to take a screen break at least once an hour to stop eye strain-so why can't you spend that time completing a quick household chore?